Biggie wrote:Just wondering why nobody offers a wading boot with a zipper instead of laces. The BOA system would not be for me, I hate to have equipment failures on the job..........

Several boot manufacturers started offering boots with zippers on the sides about 8-10 years ago. I never tried them. But if I remember correctly, they still had laces on them. I guess the idea was that once you had the laces tied to fit your foot right - you could leave them that way, and just use the zippers to put them on and off.Can't recall seeing them lately though

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"Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel, and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land. Well they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken, then they wrote it all down as the progress of man."

I wouldn't say the fishing was over for the day when the lace snapped. I trekked miles even after it broke. It's extremely convent when it's not broken. And if you don't have extra buy a para cord bracelet or I have a paracord knife and make a quick lace.

IdratherbePhishing wrote:I wouldn't say the fishing was over for the day when the lace snapped. I trekked miles even after it broke. It's extremely convent when it's not broken. And if you don't have extra buy a para cord bracelet or I have a paracord knife and make a quick lace.

Dear Idratherbe,

Wow, with that ringing endorsement you should sell them things on an infomercial.

Just one question though, isn't everything that isn't broken pretty much convenient, or are wading shoes the only thing you should pay more for and expect less from?

On the plus side at least you didn't have to carry a rebuild kit, you had special cord and a special knife handy to spare you extreme difficulty of a square knot.

Plain old laces will always work.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Posted on: 2012/11/4 22:27

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"Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel, and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land. Well they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken, then they wrote it all down as the progress of man."

I owned a pair of Simms Rivertek Boas and had the laces snap 3 times in a year... which along with the stitching coming apart I decided to send them in to be replaced by Simms free of charge with a pair of Guide Boots. The wire laces are a pain to change out yourself, especially streamside. I would not purchase these boots and would probably go with another pair of more traditional boots.

All this talk of laces sent me searching. I ran across Kevlar Laces. Kevlar sounds like it may hold up to our abuse. Below is the reply I received when I asked about how waterproof they may be and how they'll hold up to repeated soaking and drying. "

Thanks, black Kevlar will hold up very good, their only weakness is if the eyelets are rough, they tend to wear a little." This was LAces.pronto.com

Yea maybe I should be the sales rep. I do have an extra lace but my stitching is also ripping. I think I'm going to try and do what nick said and upgrade or at least trade for something else. It sucks that they're so quick and easy.

I wanted to provide an update to this story, in case other board members like some real world data to help with deciding which companies to do business with. At the time that the Boa system failed, I submitted a request to both Boa and Korkers, notifying them of the failure and even sending a picture to Boa through their online system. Korkers promptly contacted me. They initially asked that I return the boots to the place of purchase for an exchange, but my size was no longer in stock, so that did not work out. They then made sure that I had not been sent used boots or anything of that sort, and finally, after my wife got tired of the broken boots taking up space in our room a few weeks ago, and she moved them upstairs, I remembered I had them and got back in touch with Korkers. Today, a replacement pair arrived. The customer service rep at Korkers was great to deal with, and I am "whole" again, in that I now have two functioning pairs of wading boots again. I'm still skeptical of the Boa system (and never did hear anything back from Boa - this issue was clearly a problem with their component). But its refreshing to work with a company that fully stands behind their wares.

I have a pair of Bean boots that are boa....I wanted the laces, but they only carried the boot I got in the BOA model at the time. I went with LL Bean because of the warranty....I sure hope they don't fail me on the stream. I was a little anxious in buying BOA boots after having BOA hiking boots returned to the store I worked at frequently when they first came out.